Undercover Shoppers Find It Increasingly Difficult for Children to Buy M-Rated Games

Results Show Need for Continued Improvement by Movie, Music, and Some Game Retailers

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The Federal Trade Commission today released the results of its latest nationwide undercover shop of movie theaters and movie, music, and video game retailers. The FTC conducted a survey with 13-to-16-year-old undercover shoppers to collect data about the extent to which retailers prevent unaccompanied children from buying tickets to R-rated movies, R-rated DVDs, Unrated DVDs of movies that were R-rated in theaters, M-rated video games, and music CDs labeled with a Parental Advisory Label – “PAL” – for explicit content.

The survey found that 20% of underage teenage shoppers were able to buy M-rated video games, a major improvement from all prior surveys, and down from 42% in 2006. While CD and DVD retailers demonstrated some improvement since the 2006 survey, roughly half of the undercover shoppers still were able to purchase R-rated and Unrated movie DVDs and PAL music CDs. The fact that so many children were able to purchase Unrated movie DVDs – some of which contain content that, if rated, might result in an NC-17 rating – indicates that retailers need to re-double their efforts in this area. Although movie theaters have improved since the 2000 shop, they still sold R-rated movie tickets to unaccompanied children 35% of the time, demonstrating no statistically significant improvement in ratings enforcement since 2003.

CORRECTED: May 16, 2008

The survey found that results of the undercover shopping varied by retailer and product. Three movie chains – National Entertainment, Regal Entertainment Group, and American Multi-Cinema – turned away 80% or more of the underage teens who tried to buy a ticket to an R-rated movie. Wal-Mart did the best of the major retailers shopped for movie DVDs, denying sales of R-rated and Unrated DVDs to 75% of the child shoppers.

With regard to M-rated video games, Game Stop rejected an impressive 94% of underage shoppers, while Wal-Mart and Best Buy spurned 80% of them. Some stores had very different results for different media. For example, while Best Buy rejected 80% of underage buyers of video games, it turned away underage shoppers for PAL music only 47% of the time, R-rated movie DVDs only 38% of the time, and Unrated movie DVDs only 17% of the time. Similarly, Target refused to sell M-rated games to underage buyers 71% of the time, but refused sales of PAL music only 40% of the time, R-rated movie DVDs only 35% of the time, and Unrated movie DVDs in only 23% of the cases.

Tables A through E break down the survey results by theater chain and retailer. The number of shops for each reflected that chain’s or retailer’s share of the market.

Table A: Movie Theater Tickets (R-Rated)

Chain

# of Shops

% Able to Purchase

National Amusements

15

13%

Regal Entertainment Group

51

18%

American Multi-Cinema

35

20%

Cinemark USA

27

33%

Other

59

42%

Hollywood Theaters

15

47%

Marcus Theaters

15

47%

Carmike Cinemas

18

56%

Kerasotes Theaters

15

80%

Table B: Movie DVDs (R-Rated)

Chain

# of Shops

% Able to Purchase

Wal-Mart

72

25%

Circuit City

16

31%

Borders

15

33%

Grocery stores

15

47%

Kmart

17

47%

Blockbuster

15

53%

Best Buy

34

62%

Barnes & Noble

14

64%

Target

31

65%

Transworld Ent.

18

78%

Table C: Movie DVDs (Unrated)

Chain

# of Shops

% Able to Purchase

Kmart

15

20%

Wal-Mart

74

24%

Circuit City

14

29%

Grocery stores

14

36%

Borders

14

50%

Blockbuster

16

56%

Target

29

76%

Transworld Ent.

18

78%

Best Buy

32

81%

Barnes & Noble

15

87%

CORRECTED: May 16, 2008

Table D: Video Games (M-Rated)

Chain

# of Shops

% Able to Purchase

Game Stop/EB Games

66

6%

Wal-Mart

62

18%

Best Buy

35

20%

Toys R Us

15

27%

Target

28

29%

Kmart

16

31%

Circuit City

16

38%

Hollywood Video

15

40%

Table E: Music CDs (PAL)

Chain

# of Shops

% Able to Purchase

Kmart

12

17%

Other

44

41%

Circuit City

14

50%

Best Buy

53

53%

Virgin Megastore

15

53%

Target

30

60%

Borders

15

67%

Barnes & Noble

15

73%

Transworld Ent.

47

77%

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm.

(08 secret shopper survey – corrected)

Contact Information

MEDIA CONTACT:

Claudia Bourne Farrell,Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2181

STAFF CONTACT:

Keith Fentonmiller,Bureau of Consumer Protection
202-326-2775

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